High resolution coherent spectral analysis method based on Brillouin scattering in an optical fiber.

Abstract

High-resolution optical spectral analysis method is of significant importance for those who want to explore the physical world from the frequency domain. Aiming at the resolution degradation of classical coherent optical spectrum analysis (COSA) caused by the mirror phenomenon, this paper modifies the COSA system by introducing two homologous Brillouin scattering beams to serve as the pre-filter and local oscillator (LO), respectively. The central frequencies of the pre-filtered signal and the LO are locked by the Brillouin frequency shifts of those two Brillouin scattering beams. By means of this modification, the pre-filtered signal is located at either the upper-frequency-shifted side or the lower-frequency-shifted sides of the LO but could not exist on both sides of the LO. The proposed method could cancel the mirror phenomenon and thus improve the systematic resolution to 1.3 MHz in theory and 2 MHz in practice.